Jafar Panahi will attend the Golden Globes in Los Angeles this weekend
The filmmaker is committed to the ongoing protests in his country, hoping to overthrow the mullahs’ regime, while he will be in Hollywood on Sunday evening to defend his film, A Simple Accident.
While Iran is once again shaken by a wave of massive protests, Jafar Panahi has chosen to break the silence. On Wednesday, the Iranian filmmaker published on his Instagram account an appeal signed by 184 personalities from the Iranian cultural, sporting and intellectual world, a frontal, unambiguous text.
“We will defend with all our strength the right to freedom of expression, we will condemn the repression and killing of protesters and we will stand with the Iranian people.”
A text which is not an impulsive gesture, insists Panahi interviewed by Variety. “It’s not something we decided last night,” he specifies. “This appeal has been circulating for a week. It is signed by 184 people from the film industry, but also by athletes and important figures from other professions in Iran, who believe that change is necessary.”
Currently in the United States, the director of A Simple Accident finds himself, once again, at a distance from his country as the story accelerates. An uncomfortable position that he knows too well: “The last time there were mass protests, I was in Iran, but I was also incarcerated. I was in prison, without free access to information. It was very difficult to know what was happening. When someone received a call from outside, they would come quickly to give us news. But other than that, I didn’t see anything.” This time, Panahi is free — but far away. “Fate has it that, again, I am apart of what is happening. But from the second day of the protests, I felt that something was different. On the fourth day, I wrote on Instagram that I thought this time it would be something different.”
Since Cannes, the filmmaker no longer minces his words. “Even in the interviews I gave in Cannes, I already said that, in my opinion, the regime was broken. It has already fallen in fact: politically, ideologically, economically and ecologically. From every possible angle, it has fallen. What still exists is only a shell. A shell that only holds together by force.”
At the same time, Jafar Panahi is personally engaged in a new legal battle with the authorities of his country. His trial is still ongoing, and the uncertainty remains total. “I spoke with my lawyer yesterday. The court met, and he is due back in a few days to hear the decision. I don’t know yet what was decided.”
As for the very idea of a release, the filmmaker shows lucid pessimism. “In Iran, there is an expression among prisoners about appeal. The word means ‘reconsider a decision’. But prisoners say ‘confirm the decision’. This is what appeal means in the Iranian justice system. Usually, they confirm what they have already decided.”
During this time, Panahi discovered another reality: that of an international audience who, finally, could see his films freely. “It’s a new experience for me,” he explains. “Before, the Academy’s rules did not allow my films to be selected, because they were not screened in my country – which Iran would never have allowed. Without the French selection, this campaign would probably not have existed.” The American projections left their mark. “The rooms were full. The spectators stayed for the questions and answers. It gave me immense joy.”
Jafar Panahi also confirms that he will attend the Golden Globes on Sunday evening. He smiled, almost surprised by himself: “We arrived in Los Angeles last night, after Palm Springs and New York. Since we’re in LA, of course we’ll go. I guess I have to go to the Golden Globes…” A Simple Accidenta French production and Palme d’Or at Cannes, will be very well represented with 4 nominations, including two for the exiled filmmaker.
